Interview with Brian Anderson
By Bernard Chapin
web posted May 2, 2005
Brian Anderson is the Senior Editor of City Journal, but he often
contributes pieces to the magazine itself. His new book expands
on the idea of the South Park Republican, or a strain of
conservative who believes strongly in the free market and our
national defense, yet is socially liberal on many issues. The term
was first created by Andrew Sullivan, but Anderson joined in on
the discussion via his 2003 essay called “We're Not Losing the
Culture Wars Anymore” . He now celebrates this ultramodern
breed of anti-perfectionist in his newly released South Park
Conservatives: The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias. Here's
an excellent review of the work. We are most fortunate that the
author was able to give us a few minutes of his time and answer
some questions.
BC: Let me begin by congratulating you on the publication of
your book, South Park Conservatives: The Revolt Against
Liberal Media Bias. I very much enjoyed reading it, but, for
those readers who may be unaware of what a SPC actually is,
can you define the term?
Mr. Anderson : Thanks Bernard. I use the term, which I didn't
coin, to refer to someone who might not be a traditional, across-
the-board conservative, especially when it comes to things like
censorship and pop culture, but who finds today's politically
correct Left repugnant and brain dead. In South Park
Conservatives, I describe the emergence of this anti-liberal
attitude in a wickedly irreverent strain of topical comedy --
South Park itself being the model -- and among college students
today, many of whom are rebelling against their politically correct
elders on campus.
BC: Could it be that this modish, libertarian form of conservative
is a political asset because they maneuver so comfortably within
the general population? It seems to me that the presence of non-
stodgy rightists does much to dispel popular stereotypes.
Mr. Anderson: I think it's very important for the Right not to
ignore or simply denounce popular culture, where the Left has
dominated for so long. When you have millions upon millions of
people watching television sitcoms or dramas or going to movies,
and almost all those cultural products express a generally liberal
worldview or sensibility, well, that's a tremendous culture-
forming power lost to conservatives. As my book explains, the
proliferation of new media outlets of opinion and information --
talk radio, cable, the blogosphere -- gives right-of-center voices
a chance to be heard and persuade, to blast through the liberal
media force field that had contained them for so long. I believe
the same thing is starting to happen in entertainment and popular
culture, though as of yet it's a nascent development. Younger,
“non-stodgy” right-of-center types -- South Park conservatives
-- who've come of age saturated in popular culture will be able
to make inroads in areas like film and screenplay writing that
have traditionally been left-wing preserves. They're already doing
so in comedy, as my chapter on anti-liberal humor shows.
There's certainly a market for such creations.
BC: What kind of reaction has your book gotten from the left?
You in no way adopt a polemical tone, but it is clear throughout
the text that the narrator is not disappointed about the way
liberals now find themselves publicly lampooned and ridiculed.
Mr. Anderson: Some left-wing blogger compared me to Al Gore
trying to be hip, which was a real shot! And the Air America
people are mad at me for pointing out in the pages of the LA
Times what I argue in my chapter on political talk radio: liberal
radio is probably doomed to fail (the radioequalizer blog has
been relentlessly charting the poor ratings Air America has been
getting in major urban centers across the country). And I had a
couple of moronic one-line Amazon reviews from lefties who
hadn't even opened the book. But so far, most of the interest in
the book has come from other conservatives.
I am happy about the synergistic developments South Park
Conservatives chronicles! What conservative wouldn't be? After
years of watching on TV and in movies evil businessmen, corrupt
religious people, and Nixonian Republicans, on the one side, and
heroic lawyers and tough-minded but big-hearted journalists and
social workers and Dems on the other, I have to say I enjoy it
when South Park depicts Rob Reiner as a monstrous, alien
fascist. I remember -- it was merely a few years ago -- when I'd
feel a constant state of frustration after getting my New York
Times and Washington Post in the morning and realize how hard
it was going to be for my side to answer the liberal spin. Now I
can turn on Fox, or talk radio, or visit a blog like Polipundit or a
website like Frontpage or NRO, and see a real debate being
engaged in our political culture. It's thrilling, and I hope my book
conveys some of the excitement I feel.
BC: As your subtitle illustrates, a much needed revolt against the
mainstream media has occurred, but when, if ever, do you think
there will be a freedom uprising against the left's python hold on
the American academy? In the chapter, “Campus Conservatives
Rising,” you express optimism for the future.
Mr. Anderson : Guarded optimism would be a better way of
putting it. Students are moving away from the Left -- a brand-
new Harvard Institute of Politics survey of college kids finds 53
percent of them place themselves on the center or the right.
David Horowitz's Students for Academic Freedom and other
groups are helping fight the excesses of the campus Left. The
new media have brought greater public attention to just how out
there many professors are, which could begin to pressure school
administrators to try to open the campuses to greater political
and intellectual diversity.
But professors remain overwhelmingly liberal or even socialist in
their politics, and far too many of them have contempt for the
West and even American democracy. And until the tenure
system is reformed, there's unlikely to be much change in the
kind of political thinking that prevails among the professorate.
BC: I notice that there is a disclaimer on the front cover warning
that “this book has not been prepared, approved, or licensed by
any entity that created or produced the cable cartoon program
South Park .” Did you include this due to a request from the
show's creators? Were they supportive of your project? I
noticed that Matt Stone and Trey Parker are quoted within.
Mr. Anderson : I have no idea what Stone and Parker think
about the book -- I certainly praise their work for its satirical
edge, and I don't think I've mischaracterized it. Indeed, I quote
them extensively talking about what they're up to.
The request for the disclaimer came not from South Park 's
creators, but from Comedy Central, which wanted to make sure
the book wasn't viewed as an official, licensed product from their
camp. We were perfectly happy to accommodate them. The
South Park Studios website has actually hosted a fan forum
discussing the book.
BC: In your opinion, what Samizdat source has done the most
damage to political correctness? Do you have any idea as to
what journalist or publication is most despised by [anti] liberals?
Mr. Anderson : I think the synergy of all these new media has
really been what has done in political correctness -- and forced
the liberal media to account for its distortions. The rise of the
blogosphere, though, seems to have led us to the tipping point,
or near the tipping point, and I think we're only starting to see its
effects.
Perhaps I'm seeing things from a New York perspective, but the
New York Times has long been perceived by many on the Right
as a chief source and defender of much that's gone wrong with
America over the last several decades. It still has a lot of
influence and obviously has enormous resources to push a story.
The network newscasts don't have nearly the influence they once
did -- in fact, the average age of a typical network news watcher
is now 60. Sam Donaldson recently announced the “death” of
network news, the end of an era.
BC: You're the Senior Editor of City Journal, which is a
publication of which many readers may not have heard, can you
explain to them how CJ differs from its competition? What does
it uniquely offer?
Mr. Anderson: We offer a lot of thickly reported stories, where
our writers actually go out into the world and find things out
about policing, or education innovations, or anti-terrorism efforts,
or any number of other subjects. Abandoning any false modesty
for a moment, it is also a superbly-edited magazine: Myron
Magnet, my boss and colleague, knows just how to get the best
from our great authors and how to craft a piece into its sharpest,
most muscular form. We also offer long-form journalism that isn't
dumbed-down in the least, while remaining accessible to the
average informed reader.
BC: What would you say to those who dismiss City Journal as
being primarily of local interest for those living in New York
City?
Mr. Anderson : I'd say: check out the magazine: www.city-
journal.org. We're a general interest political and cultural
publication. We'll do lots of first-rate policy stuff on New York
City and other urban areas, sure, but we also run thoughtful
pieces on just about everything under the sun: Theodore
Dalrymple on the underclass, literature, and England's decline,
Victor Davis Hanson on the War on Terror, James Q. Wilson on
Islam, Heather Mac Donald on the Patriot Act and policing,
Stefan Kanfer on vaudeville, Kay Hymowitz on the family, Steve
Malanga on the mob, me on pit bulls -- as I say, everything
under the sun. It's a joy to work with Myron Magnet every day
and be publishing such intellectually cutting edge authors.
BC: What's your next project going to be?
Mr. Anderson : Something on sports or on movies, maybe --
we'll see.
Bernard Chapin is a writer living in Chicago. He can be reached
at bchapafl@hotmail.com.
Enter Stage Right -- http://www.enterstageright.com